1. The Field of the Invention
Implementations of the present invention relate generally to the generation of power using flowing water.
2. Discussion of the Relevant Art
Hydropower is the production of electrical or mechanical power using the force of falling or flowing water. Hydropower is one of the most widely used forms of renewable energy. Often power is converted to electricity and distributed to users on an electrical grid. Advantages of hydroelectric power include: no direct waste, no intermittency of provided power, no fuel costs, and considerably lower output levels of pollutants and greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) than fossil fuel powered energy plants.
Traditionally large dams have been constructed in order to implement hydroelectric power. The dam serves to organize the flowing water and increase the pressure or head for use in a hydroelectric turbine. Unfortunately, dams and associated reservoirs submerge land upstream of the dams. The submersion land can destroy biologically productive riparian habitats like riverine valley forests, marshland, and grasslands. The loss of land is compounded by habitat fragmentation. Further, large dams can become a hazard with the potential to inflict tremendous damage and loss of life should the dam ever fail.
Increasingly, nations are preventing the construction of new dams and seeking power capture in low head situations like canals, tidal flows, small dams, or natural river flows. In low head situations the pressure is low and power must be extracted from the natural velocity or kinetic energy of the water. Unlike with high head situations, the maximum possible extractible power in low head situations is often too low to justify costly turbine blades. Despite the need for systems that can generate power using low head situations, many attempts have proven impractical or too costly.